Contests, sweepstakes and other price giveaway events are commonly employed as means for promoting the sale of a particular line of products. Sweepstakes promotions and the entry blanks therefor are usually accompained by advertisements for one or more of the sponsor's products. It is hoped that the attention gained by the inducement of promotional give-aways will directly or indirectly result in the consumer's awareness of the sponsors' products. State laws prohibit sponsors of sweepstakes promotions from requiring any payment, such as purchase of one or more of the sponsors products, as a prerequisite for entering the sweepstakes. It is therefore essential that the sponsor associate his product line with the promotional sweepstakes in such a way that a potential participant will become exposed to the sponsor's product promotion in the process of exposure to the sweepstakes notice and completion of the entry blank.
Another common method for promoting the sale of a particular product or product line is the use of detachable discount coupons which are distributed in concert with advertising through direct mail, local newspapers, magazines and point-of-sale displays for the purpose of promoting a sale of that item. The coupons may be detached from the advertising literature and taken to the local retail outlet or mailed to the manufacturer of the product for a "cents-off" or other type of discount in the purchase of the associated item.
Another promotional coupon vehicle which is associated with the advertisement for a particular product line is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,900 issued to Krautsack. The Krautsack device employs a coupon vehicle which contains an illustration of the product and a description of the particular discount offer and a separate surface area which is deliniated to receive one or more portions of the packaging material of the product line. The portion of the packaging material required is detached from the product after it is purchased and is affixed in this surface region on the coupon. When each of the surface regions has been filled with a portion of the packaging material, the coupon may be redeemed for a discount on the next item purchased. It should be noted that this type of promotional coupon is unacceptable for use in a sweepstakes promotion because it requires purchase of the products in order to obtain the portion of packaging material required for completion of the coupon.